264 THE OAK. 
forming plantations, the acorns are sometimes deposited in 
prepared ground. By this method the young plants are sub- 
jected to many casualties, and they seldom succeed so uni- 
formly as those that have been raised in nurseries, prepared 
for the forest, and planted out at the age of three, four, or 
five years. In collecting seed, it is of great importance to 
select acorns from the most approved trees. In the laying 
down of an annual crop, the agriculturist is aware that the 
result of a single season will depend greatly on the quality or 
variety of the seed employed. In no case, therefore, should 
that principle, which nature has everywhere established 
throughout the vegetable kingdom, be more carefully ob- 
served than in depositing those seeds which are to occupy the 
soil for many generations, it may be for many centuries. 
Time cannot develop the peculiar excellencies of a tree 
unless the elements of these are contained in the seed. 
Acorns generally become ripe and drop from the tree about 
the end of autumn; and they may be sown any time from 
that period to the beginning of March. Although acorns 
ripen in Scotland, they are not so good in quality, and seldom 
produce seedlings so stout as English acorns. They will grow 
in any soil, but that which is light and friable is best suited 
for the young plants. As the smallest acorns produce plants 
which for some years continue of a weak and feeble growth, 
it is usual, when the supply of seed is abundant, to separate 
them by passing the small ones through a riddle of a size 
adapted to retain the largest nuts, which only are used. In 
nurseries they are generally sown in beds four feet wide, and 
one bushel of sound acorns is sufficient for a bed twenty-five 
yards long of that width. The nuts should be rolled or 
beaten down with the back of a spade. The alleys between 
the beds are commonly made fourteen inches broad. The 
surface soil is removed from these alleys to form a cover on 
the seed, which should in heavy soil be only half an inch 
deep; in soil light and friable it should be nearly one inch 
deep. In sowing during winter, or early in spring, the soil 
from the alleys should be spread roughly, taking care that the 
